


The Quietus of the Ultimate Actor

by hopeomelette



Series: Fanganronpa Fics [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Danganronpa: Deep Despair, Gen, I'm Sorry, Lily don't kill me please, Pain, i legitimately am sorry this time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23360554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeomelette/pseuds/hopeomelette
Summary: This is a collection of multiple different alternate endings to DR: Deep Despair regarding one particular survivor, Ryuuichi Hanabi.
Series: Fanganronpa Fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582846
Comments: 10
Kudos: 8





	1. Execution

The trial grounds turn pitch black for a moment, before the lights turn back on, Ryuuichi having vanished. The screens turn on, and the camera slowly pans forward to reveal a grand theater stage, the crowd packed to the brim and excited murmurs floating among the different people seated. The lights dim slightly, as the stage lights shine brightly onto the stage itself, and red satin curtains furl back to reveal one Ryuuichi Hanabi, gracefully shifting into a pose on stage with his arms out wide. He has his black makeup back on under his eyes, but the rest of his attire is normal, and he grins widely, the audience erupting into cheers at even just this simple appearance. He laughs heartily and opens his mouth… 

“I’m a complete fraud!” he proclaims cheerfully. 

The audience roars with laughter. Applause, and every single audience member laughs, pointing at him. Ryuuichi’s smile is unwavering, unaffected. 

Yet, one voice cries out over them, screaming “NO!” It’s quickly silenced.

Ryuuichi on stage makes another dramatic pose and proclaims “I lie to my friends and family, every minute of every day! There is no real Ryuuichi Hanabi, for everything about him is a lie!”

“STOP!! PLEASE!!” The desperate cry echoes out again, mere seconds before the audience gets into an absolute uproar once more, laughing, applauding, yelling… and as Ryuuichi begins to speak more, emphasizing how much of a liar he is, the camera pans into the audience, revealing one solitary seat front and center of the front row. In it is seated… Ryuuichi, tears streaming down his face, emphasized by the fact that he also seems to have had his black makeup put back on. He’s tied to the chair, completely unable to move despite the fact that he writhes around desperately. The audience next to him keeps roughhousing him, punching him in the arm and laughing in his face.   
  
“I lied about getting attacked, it was me all along!”   
“Yosuke loved me, but I never loved him back!”   
“I secretly hated Mitsuharu half the time for the fact that he wouldn’t stop prying into my private life!”   
“My parents never loved me!”   
“My boyfriend resents me for keeping our relationship secret!”   
“I constantly cry myself to sleep and can’t feel happiness on my own!”   
  
Ryuuichi in the audience screams in agony, shaking his head violently and thrashing against his restraints once more. The audience’s laughs are deafening at this point, yet the audio plays Ryuuichi’s pained sobs loud and clear for all of you to hear. Then, the audience seems to become muffled, the punches on Ryuuichi ceasing… as a gloved leather hand reaches for Ryuuichi’s face, gently holding his chin and lifting his head up. 

Ryuuichi jerks his head up with wide eyes, to see Yosuke standing here, smiling reassuringly. And out from behind him steps… a boy none of you had seen before, yet Ryuuichi’s reaction filled in the blanks for you. “T-Takeo…?!” he stutters, and yet he’s cut off as the boy hugs Ryuuichi tightly, smiling widely, even while Yosuke still has a hand on Ryuuichi’s chin. On Yosuke’s other side, Mitsuharu appears, going to pat him on his shoulder with a chuckle. Ryuuichi trembles, looking between them with a very small smile.

And then their smiles vanish instantly, and they all lean in to hiss angrily in his face, all three of their voices echoing simultaneously. “Liar,” they all say. “Liar, you liar!  _ Liar! _ Look what you’ve DONE to us!!” 

Ryuuichi’s face is immediately stricken with guilt, and sadness, and he hiccups as he starts to cry again. “I d-didn’t… mean… to… p-please…” But they don’t listen, they keep repeating “liar” over and over. Ryuuichi just sobs, until the three of them tighten their grips on him - Ryuuichi’s head is tilted up by Yosuke, his shoulder held in place by Haru, and his body prevented from moving by Takeo - and then Ryuuichi suddenly jerks in pain and screams. Yet, nothing visibly happened to him. The pained, seemingly involuntarily twitching that his body is doing now, there doesn’t seem to be a cause for it. He gasps for air, looking between the three of them with a pleading look. “Sp… Spears… p-please help…” 

Yet there’s no spears visible anywhere. Takeo looks absolutely disgusted and loosens his hug, and then walks away… Haru releases his grip, shaking his head with a disappointed sigh, and walks in the opposite direction, leaving only Yosuke, who brings a small syringe out from his coat with his other hand. He looks down on Ryuuichi with some sort of disgusted pity. “You don’t even deserve for me to speed up the process,” he spits out. “Couldn’t stop lying to the end… even your own death is a lie, huh?” He drops the syringe, and releases Ryuuichi’s chin to walk away from him as well. 

Ryuuichi is left there, subtly flinching every so often as the light slowly dies from his eyes, yet he stares after the three of them even still, mouth open. But he remains speechless… Blood finally shows and seeps out from under his clothes, and the camera shows that there were indeed spears that had been thrust into his back, but they weren’t visible until now. He tries to open his mouth a little more, but all that comes out is one last exhale of his breath… and he says nothing more, as the spotlight on him turns off.


	2. Two Truths, One Final Lie

It was a normal day, seemingly. Mitsuharu had been hanging out with Remi all day, but had enjoyed the company of Kechibi and Hanamaru, and even Ryuuichi briefly, before he had retreated to his room to eat ice cream in peace. Mitsuharu couldn’t help but feel concerned, especially with… well, everything about Ryuuichi, but most importantly his leg, which hindered him greatly. 

Mitsuharu eventually grew restless just sitting around in the canteen, as his feeling of unease just grew in a more general sense. He should be doing something other than just sitting around. Remi happens to notice, and nudges him very slightly as she does. “Do you wish to go somewhere?”

He nods, looking a little relieved that she asked. “Anywhere is fine with me, I’m just getting a little restless.” He looks to Hanamaru and Kechibi, and adds, “You two can come along too, if you like.”

“Fo’ sure! Where you wanna head?” Kechibi asks, standing up excitedly.

Mitsuharu simply shrugs, but Remi speaks up again, standing as well. “The library sounds nice…”

Hanamaru nods. “I’d be okay with that… I haven’t gone back to read since…” She brings a hand up to her face tentatively, clearly referring to the scars that are scored across her face from the Prisoner’s Run. 

Kechibi makes a small noise of sympathy, wrapping an arm around her and nodding. “It’s alright ZuZu. So we goin’?”

Remi walks out without another word. Mitsuharu chuckles and follows her, Kechibi and Hanamaru following shortly afterward. They all ride in the elevator together, and upon reaching the first floor lobby, Mitsuharu takes the lead and opens the door to the library.

...But… Upon walking into the library, Mitsuharu immediately skidded to a halt. The library was in a clear disarray, which was obvious from the moment he looked in. Books were scattered everywhere, their normally organized stacks having been toppled haphazardly, and the minimal amount of chairs that are usually in here are now flipped, the table in the center of the room disturbed. Some sort of fight must have occurred here, was his first thought. Remi stepped in behind him, looking upon the scene with a slight concern. “Oh dear…”

Mitsuharu rushed forward now, looking around to check… to check if anyone was dead? Was he really already so distrusting of the first sign of disturbance? But something in his gut told him that this was serious, that this was different. And he was quickly proven right, as when he moved forward and looked towards a chair that had fallen over, he saw something lying underneath…

Ryuuichi’s crutches.

Mitsuharu stared at them with wide eyes, before looking to Remi with that same look. Her gaze looks slightly shaken, but she remains silent.  
“Ayo, what’s hoppin’ up in-” Kechibi’s voice breaks the tension as he enters with Hanamaru. “WOAH-” 

“Wh-What the…” Hanamaru’s voice joins him.

But Mitsuharu doesn’t hear them. He just looks around feverishly, and upon not seeing Ryuuichi here, he pushes past Kechibi and Hanamaru entirely. 

They might have followed him out of the library, he wasn’t sure. He opens the door to the pool, nothing, no one. The gym, no one there either. The casino is the next door he opens, and he throws it open...

At first, he looked just like he was asleep on the ground. Usual antics of Ryuuichi, to be sprawled out asleep where he wasn’t meant to be, right? Mitsuharu expected to see the usual rise and fall of his chest, the soft snoring that arose from him when he was faking sleep. But he saw, nor heard, anything of the sort. His left leg, the one still wrapped in bandages from the shark bite, was twisted at an unnatural angle, and the gauze had become stained with fresh blood, the stitches underneath clearly having been broken and his wounds reopened to some degree. He had taken off his makeup recently, and yet, his face was pale once more… and the purple strands of his hair that he would gleefully mess with when he was speaking, were now stained with a dull red. It was wrong, it looked wrong. But alas, the small pool of blood that was lying under his head did not care what was right or wrong.

And the speakers crackling to life, Syn’s annoying voice that Mitsuharu had come to despise with his whole being, only served to confirm his worst fear.

Ryuuichi Hanabi, the Ultimate Actor, was dead.

Just as the tears begin to well up in Mitsuharu's eyes, he hears more people entering behind him, horrified gasps and quiet mutterings of Ryuuichi's name becoming nothing but background noise. His brother... the man that risked his life and limb, literally, for him. The man who had tried so hard to entertain, to smile, that had grown to open up to him more even if it was difficult to break through. He was dead. Ryuuichi Hanabi was dead.

Mitsuharu's knees hit the ground. There's more talking behind him, but it doesn't matter, he doesn't want to hear it. He wants to hear Ryuuichi's voice. He wants Ryuuichi to be lying to him again. This is all one last act, right? He'll be getting up shortly, and he can scold him for doing something like this to his brother, right?

...But as his vision grows hazier, and he finds himself falling forward and losing consciousness, he doesn't get the answer he wants.

* * *

Remi blinks open her eyes drearily for a moment, getting her bearings on what had just happened and where she is. As her gaze focuses back in on her surroundings, she finds that she is in a familiar, cold room… the morgue. And right in front of her, laid across a table, is Ryuuichi.

As her gaze locks onto his body once again, sadness overcomes her features once more. Ryuuichi… not only was he a man that she had come to care for greatly, but he was one of her only friends here. Mitsuharu being the only other person that she was really close to at the moment. The resemblance to her father certainly added to the reasons why the sight of his body was upsetting, but the main reason truly was just that he was her friend. He was always so lively, acting for everyone around him and doing his best to smile and cheer others up, despite the heartbreaking sadness that he hid deep within him, that she had caught a glimpse of a couple times while getting to know him. Now, seeing him still, unmoving… it upset her a lot. And she also couldn’t deny the short feeling of anger that was creeping up as well.

The other people in the morgue with her slowly stir shortly after, and she glances around to see who is with her for this. Kechibi… Maito… and Yosuke. Kechibi and Maito act similarly, looking around quickly at their unfamiliar surroundings in bewilderment before their eyes settle on the body on the table. Yosuke, however, just silently stands up and glances around, before lowering his head and not daring to say a thing.

Kechibi, on the other hand, pipes up immediately. “What the fresh fuck…”

Maito speaks after he does, looking quite disturbed and shaken. “N-No…” is the only word he manages, before he backs up into a corner a little, hugging himself slightly. Kechibi moves closer, and starts working to comfort him a little. Yosuke remains silent.

Remi sighs a little, and goes to put on a pair of gloves and an apron. Her expression is simply one of blank determination. She has a job to do, even if this is the body of her friend lying before her. And the determination she feels is a side effect of the anger that she can’t help but feel deep down for whoever did this… so she certainly intends to find out.

She silently begins the autopsy. Maito and Kechibi murmur to each other about the discovery of the scene in the library and the casino, while she can sense Yosuke’s eye on her, his head still down but he’s still paying attention at least.

First, she starts with the most obvious injury, what she assumes to be the cause of death - on his head, there are multiple small blows, mostly around the back of his head but a couple on the sides and on top of his head. Clearly having been done with a strong object, and this was very clearly intending to kill him. She checks his expression next, which was too still for her liking. Ryuuichi had always been very animated with his different expressions, so to see his face now, eternally frozen into one of pain… She moved on. She carefully checked his pockets, and pulled out a few things. One was a small piece of paper that read “Meet me in the library, I found a book on Hope’s Peak that wasn’t there before!” in indecipherable handwriting. Next was Ryuuichi’s handbook, untouched, so she left it in his pocket. She then dug around in his hoodie, and removed it off of him altogether, before feeling that there was still something in it. Feeling around on the inside of the hoodie soon revealed an inner hidden pocket, which she unzipped… and inside was Ryuuichi’s journal.

This catches Yosuke’s attention. He steps forward, and opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out… so instead, he simply just holds his hand out to Remi. She nods to him, and without saying anything herself, she places both Ryuuichi’s jacket and his journal in Yosuke’s hand. He looks a bit confused as to why she gave him his jacket as well, but he still doesn’t say anything, simply stepping back once more and skimming through his journal.

Remi continues the autopsy. Now that he doesn’t have his hoodie on, she can see that there are a few bruises along his arms, and some seem to be the same size and shape as the blows on his head. She sighs, and then moves down to his leg. Carefully removing the bloodied bandages reveals just how badly the stitches had been disturbed, and just how bloody they had become. Remi was grateful that Yosuke was currently distracted by the journal, as this was his own work that he would have to see ruined, and… well, other things.

“Shit…” Kechibi speaks up, having been watching halfheartedly this whole time. “His leg wasn’t anything like that when he came by in da canteen, was it?”

Remi shakes her head. “He had been doing fine… No trace of blood on his bandages until now, so… if I had to surmise, in whatever struggle happened, the killer took advantage of his leg and made it to where this would have incapacitated him…”

“Maybe even… hit his leg?” Kechibi asks.

Remi examines the stitches again, and notes that some near the center are bent, where a bit more blood had come to gather as his wounds were more open there. She nods. “They attacked his leg first, most likely…” A hint of anger enters her tone as she says that, causing Kechibi to frown and nod, looking similarly angry.

“Fuckin’ scumbag… we gotta find the asshole who did this to him…” Kechibi looks up to Ryuuichi’s face, his mouth twisting into pain, and pure upsetness, as he hesitates. “Poor R-Ryuu, damn it...”

With this, it seems like her job is complete. Remi slowly removes her apron, folding it and setting it aside. She makes sure that her gloves aren’t bloodied, before she moves around the table, now standing at Ryuuichi’s side. She slowly lifts her hand, and gently places it over Ryuuichi’s eyes. “Goodnight… Ryuuichi Hanabi…” she murmurs. “I-I am sorry this is the way you had to meet… your end. Make no mistake... we  _ will _ avenge you as well.” Her voice wavers a little more than when she had said this same speech to Hibiki, but she remains calm all the same, stepping away and bowing deeply to him. She remains silent for a few moments, before straightening back up, and then remains at his side.

Now that her attention is off of her work, she looks to Yosuke once more. He seems to have finished looking through Ryuuichi’s journal, and supposedly didn’t find anything relevant to the case in it, as he certainly didn’t say anything of the sort. Now, Yosuke just grips onto Ryuuichi’s hoodie tightly. His face is pale, and his eye is no longer visible, the downwards angle of his head causing his bangs to obscure his face mostly. Remi can’t help but wonder what he read in his journal to affect him even further like this…

“W-Wait…” Maito finally speaks up. “Chibi, you said… you found him in the casino, right?”

Kechibi looks over, and nods. “Yeah. Jus’... lying on the ground.”

Maito looks between them with wide eyes, and gulps a little before speaking again. “I think I have a potential suspect for us, then… I saw someone leaving the casino holding something… metal…”

“Who?” Remi and Kechibi immediately ask in unison. Yosuke lifts his head slightly.

“...Oliver.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would write the end of the chapter, where Oliver is indicted and he gets a bunch of pissed off teenagers yelling at him for killing, but alas that's not what I'm here for. I just want Ryuuichi dead :)  
> ...and I don't know how every last person would be reacting so I didn't plan on writing trial segments if I didn't have to. UwU


	3. The Deadliest Sin

It was a seemingly quiet day, comparatively, to what had been going on previously. At this point in time, Mitsuharu had been successfully restrained, cutting out most of the violent chaos of this motive. Earlier this morning, Yosuke had gone to accompany Ryuuichi around the facility, with Ryuuichi acting as his normal self… or at least, the self that he had come to be around Yosuke, where he wasn’t acting so much, allowing himself to look a little listless. That’s what Yosuke assumes, anyway. Yosuke kept his eye on Ryuuichi the whole time, noticing a tremble to his movements every so often, or that he looked pretty pale today. But upon being questioned, Ryuuichi just blamed it on his leg, which made enough sense. Plus, he was completely fine otherwise, right?

As the hours passed, Ryuuichi looked more and more tired, so Yosuke suggested that he go eat at the canteen before going to rest. Well, it wasn’t really a suggestion - doctor’s orders and all - but Ryuuichi didn’t complain, generally remaining silent and just following Yosuke to the canteen.

Within were Suna and Isogu, much to Yosuke’s chagrin, but for Ryuuichi’s sake he just made to ignore them entirely. Suna waves slightly to Ryuuichi, before leaning into Isogu and whispering, presumably telling him to stay quiet. Isogu, still affected by sloth, just nodded lazily and then let his head hit the table. Ryuuichi doesn’t even seem to register Suna’s wave, silently going to get a small salad and sitting down with it. Yosuke would comment, but his gluttony distracts him, as he grabs platefuls of unhealthy food and starts shoveling it into his mouth. 

After a while, Yosuke manages to stomach some of his food enough to where he can focus on everyone else again. Ryuuichi coughed slightly, poking at his salad with a fork. He’s barely eaten it, and he looks straight up nauseous now. Yosuke raises an eyebrow. “Hanabi? Something wrong?”

Ryuuichi perks up, but something is absolutely wrong now. He coughs again, before responding cheerfully. “No, I’m okay. Just feeling a little sick, is all… and I hate feeling sick, so it’s messing with me.”

Suna eyes him curiously. “Is that all?” she pipes up from where she sits. Isogu remains face-tabled.

Ryuuichi nods, standing up… very unsteadily. “Actually, I think I’m gonna… I’ll be right back.” His eyes dart between the door to the lobby and the door to the kitchen, as if he’s weighing his options, before just settling for barging into the kitchen.

The canteen is silent now, the ones present and remaining not seeming to know how to react for a few moments. Yosuke looks at Suna properly for the first time, his expression only filled with concern. Suna gives him an equally concerned look. Yosuke then stands up quickly, saying, “I’m going to check on him,” before quickly pacing into the kitchen.

The sight that meets him as he steps in and closes the door behind him… is Ryuuichi, still standing, yet he’s shaking at an alarming rate. He’s leaning onto a counter, his chest heaving as he’s literally gasping for air. His eyes look onto Yosuke, but they don’t seem to see him properly, a concerning haze over his eyes… despite the clear terror that lays deep within them. And Yosuke finally sees… a small trickle of blood dripping down from the corner of his mouth.

“...No.”

At first, it just starts as a small whisper that barely moves Yosuke’s lips, but as he darts forward towards Ryuuichi, that single word repeats itself over and over in his mind, louder and louder, almost deafening. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This can’t be happening, he’s not dying. No, no, no, no no no no. Not again. Not again. Not again. And so, while his mind is overcome with a cacophony of noise, his hands seem to almost move on their own. His instincts make him reach out and grab Ryuuichi’s face, gently, of course gently, and he goes to look in his mouth to see if he could see the cause of the blood. Ryuuichi doesn’t resist, simply gasping a little as he follows Yosuke blankly with his eyes alone. 

He had clearly been coughing up blood at this point, and it was to a degree that it was severe. Life threatening. ...Unsaveable. “No!” He snaps out loud at his own thoughts. He has to do something, he frantically checks Ryuuichi over for any sign of injury - there doesn’t seem to be any - he has to stop this, he has to help, he has to…

“Y-Yosuke…” Ryuuichi’s shaky, strained voice breaks through his thoughts, and he focuses back in on him. His eyes seem to have lost a bit of the haze from earlier, but that just makes the deep set fear in them even more clear to see. “Lis… Listen…”

Yosuke’s frantic behavior doesn’t stop, but he does nod quickly and makes sure to listen to Ryuuichi. “Tell me what’s happening how can I help do you know what did this?” he quickly rambles off.

Ryuuichi shakes his head no, before he trembles a little more, and it seems as if he can’t rely on his right leg anymore… and his left leg is still weak, so his legs give out under him and he falls to the floor. Yosuke goes to catch him before he can hit the floor, and instead kneels down and lies him down in front of him, since he would need to be lying down anyway for whatever procedure he needed to… come up with. Every part of the medical knowledge he knew told him that there wasn’t anything he could do at the moment, especially not with what he has at hand, but he didn’t dare listen to that now. He just listened to Ryuuichi. “S-Sorry… Don’t know wh-what… this-” He cuts himself off with a wet cough, spasms wracking his whole body now as more blood comes up when he coughs. Yosuke holds him up so he won’t choke. “Th… This… is… S-Started feeling s-sick… yesterday…”

Yosuke shakes him slightly, brow furrowing. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Ryuuichi shakes his head again, coughing again. Even more blood.

“Shit, shit, shit…” Yosuke starts digging around in his coat with one hand for the medical supplies that aren’t there and that he never had. He is stopped when Ryuuichi starts trembling again, and there’s a slight jolt to his movements… and then a sobbing noise. When Yosuke whips his head back to look at Ryuuichi, tears have begun falling from his eyes, and he sobs silently, interrupting his already sporadic breathing and making it even more labored.

“N-Nnnh…” He looks up at Yosuke, and chokes out a plea. “I-I don’t… wanna die… P-Please… Please, I c-can’t… I’m sc-scared Yosu- ke, I…” He chokes… the sobbing, the coughing, the gasping for air are all making it to where he’s shaking even more, and yet at the same time, he’s moving much less...

“H-Hanabi…” Yosuke whispers, his bottom lip quivering slightly.

“You…” Ryuuichi sounds like he’s forcing out the words now, gasping before each sentence fragment. His movements continue to slow, and his eyes are now half lidded. “You l-liked… it better… wh-when I was sm… iling… I-I’m s-sorry, I c-can’t… do that… one…… last…… time……….”

And with those last few words, a choked gurgling noise rises from Ryuuichi’s throat, and his eyes close all the way as he goes limp in Yosuke’s arms.

Yosuke stares, wide-eyed. He looks down at Ryuuichi, expecting for him to perk right back up with a dumb grin and say it was all just an act. But he doesn’t. 

Some part of Yosuke’s mind clears up, making his thinking less loud for but a moment. The ever present growling noise that he perceived coming from his stomach fades, and he doesn’t feel hungry. Not that he could even dare to stomach anything in the next… who knows how long. The faint sound of the kitchen door slamming open reaches his ears, but he barely registers what it means. Isogu’s stunned exclamation comes across as wordless, Suna’s horrified yell doesn’t make sense. Syn’s voice chiming above him, “A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather in the kitchen!” couldn’t be real. 

How funny that after all this time, of working with Ryuuichi to have him not act as much around him, he wanted Ryuuichi to be lying to him, this time. And yet this was the worst truth of them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry


	4. The Real Hallucination

Within the days of this fourth motive, many hallucinations occured to people individually, but there was a running trend of those who had died appearing before the living. The visualization of Ethan Nishitani in the canteen being the start of seeing dead bodies where they shouldn’t be. A living corpse, as it were, in that case. Shortly after, Mitsuharu and Ryuuichi both experienced their own hallucinations of the dead students that they cared for, Asaka Fukuyo and Yosuke Karasu, both horrifically scarring them… mentally, and unfortunately, physically. Even still, as other hallucinations plagued the students’ minds, with Oliver making his own appearance, Ryuuichi still wears Yosuke’s gloves as he goes through the days here. For those that had experienced them, or had heard from others about it, chills went down their spines just thinking about the appearances of the dead. One could hardly tell which was more feared: a dead body in a hallucination, or a real dead body that is of one of the current living.

But, in these hallucination-plagued times, people still had a job to do. And that rang doubly true for the Ultimate President herself.

Suna lets out a deep sigh as she browses through the toy store idly. She had left Isogu to take a bath on his own, and was now just trying not to get too lost in her own thoughts. Thus far, this motive had been nothing but a personal hell for her, her future self taunting her and tormenting her with things that she knew weren’t true but she couldn’t bear to hear all the same. And as such, she remained in here for now, avoiding having to go out to the lobby. After all, the glass probably held something horrific beyond it, or in its reflection… who knows. She glares at the table that they had sat at to enter the VR program, and then glances towards the vending machine with a frown.

A slamming noise breaks Suna out of her contemplation, causing her to whip her head around to look at the door to the toy store. She sees… nothing there? She blinks, before hearing a loud, angry hiss, and she directs her eyes down. There at her feet, a familiar snake had slithered up to her and was looking up at her, hissing again. Looking partially angry, but mostly just distressed. 

“Blanc? Wha-” Before Suna can ask anything of Blanc, Blanc lifts her head a little from the ground and hisses again, revealing that her underbelly has been stained with something. A dark red, partially rubbed off onto the floor but still a concerning quantity all the same… blood. “Huh? I-Is someone hurt?!”

Blanc hisses again. She brings around her tail, and wraps it around one of Suna’s ankles, tugging on her leg. Clearly she wants Suna to follow her, and likely to where the source of that blood is from. ...She can’t help but assume the worst, but maybe, maybe it’s just like when Ryuuichi had just come off of hallucinating Yosuke in the nursery. This wouldn’t be any different.

“A-Ah, okay okay-” She tugs her leg free of Blanc, and points to the door. “Please lead the way, I’ll follow!”

And so, Blanc leads the way out of the toy store. Suna can already see where she’s headed to once she makes her way out of the toy store as well, as the door to the classroom is open and has a faint snake-shaped trail of blood leading out of it. She grimaces, and goes as fast as her short little legs can carry her, running after Blanc and into the classroom-

The smell of blood that hits her is almost immediately overwhelming, a far greater quantity than anything Suna had seen here in person from the other murders. Her eyes follow the blood trail that Blanc had left, to the front of the room. As such, the first thing she sees is the slowly expanding pool of blood on the floor, bordered by two desks. Laying face-down and lengthwise across the two desks… a mess of black, purple, and a very wrong crimson red slowly dripping down from his body in multiple places… is Ryuuichi. His gloved hands hang limply down from the desk, and there’s no sign of movement from him.

“R… Ryuu… ichi…?” Suna says slowly, eyes having gone wide. She freezes for a brief moment, staring, and waiting for him to speak up. 

Of course, she gets no response.

She stares blankly for a moment more, before a hiss breaks her out of her stunned state. “R-Ryuuichi?!” She rushes up to him now, going up to him and poking him in the side a couple times before shaking him by the shoulders slightly.

Ryuuichi remains limp in her arms, but a small noise comes from his throat. Suna can see that his eyes are closed, so he’s likely unconscious, and the color is quickly draining from his face, but he’s still warm and there’s a very faint rise and fall to his chest. He’s still alive.

She frantically moves to flip him over on the desks. The dripping of his blood stops, and now Suna can see exactly what had caused the large pool of blood that she stands in now; Ryuuichi has one huge slice across his torso, deep, thin, and straight, and far too deliberate of a cut to have been done while he was fighting back. No sign of what caused it, but she doesn’t have time to look for it. She panics, pressing down on his wounds with her hands to try and stop the bleeding as best she can. His body twitches, but Ryuuichi remains unconscious…

Soon enough, she realizes that she won’t be able to stop the bleeding, nor would she be able to fix his wounds at this rate. Ryuuichi is also too heavy for her to be able to carry, and as such, she gives him and Blanc one last panicked glance before sprinting out of the classroom.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mitsuharu had just emerged from his room for the morning. Luckily for him, he hadn’t been visited by the specter of his dead girlfriend again recently, nor did he wish to be visited by her - or any more ghosts than usual - any time soon. Trudging through the lounge to find no one there was as depressing as usual, of course. No Ryuuichi, but he could just be in the canteen, Mitsuharu muses. 

“Oh, Haru.”

Alas, before he heads into the canteen, he catches sight of Isogu coming right out of the bathhouse. He puts up a hand, giving Isogu a tired and rather blank look. “Hello, Isogu.”

“...You look like you’re doing fantastic.” Isogu notes in his usual deadpan sarcasm, twirling a bit of his slightly wet bangs around a finger.

Mitsuharu snorts slightly, shaking his head. “Never been better, man. Have you and Miss Isago been holding up alright?”

“Ehhhh…” Isogu grimaces, and makes a so-so gesture with his hand. “I’m alright, I guess… shit still sucks, but I’m mostly just worried about Suna.”

“Bad hallucinations?”

Isogu just nods, and taps his foot while looking at the elevator. “I was gonna go find her now. If you want you can come along and ask her yourself. Just be quick about it.”

Mitsuharu contemplates this for a moment, before scooting over to the canteen and peeking into it. No Ryuuichi. Wonder why. So he shrugs. “Sure, I’ll-”

Isogu’s already sprinted into the elevator, tapping his foot impatiently and looking at Mitsuharu expectantly. Mitsuharu lets out a short weak chuckle, jogging over and joining him in the elevator. Once he stepped in, Isogu swiftly pressed the button for them to go down to the generations floor.

Even before the door opened, he could smell it. His eyes widen with horror mere moments before the doors to the elevator slide open. Isogu had looked ready to sprint right out of the elevator the moment the doors opened, but when they did, he took one stride forward but immediately faltered.

The door to the classroom was wide open, the smell of blood permeating the entire lobby now. The two boys both froze and looked at each other, as if to silently confirm if they were both seeing this, or if it was an illusion. Mitsuharu snapped into action without much thought after that glance, though, and started towards the classroom-

-and before he reached it, out came a bloodied Suna, looking terrified and gasping shortly. Mitsuharu sees the blood on her hands, on her shoes, and rushes forward, Isogu quickly rushing to her as well. “Suna!!” they both blurt at the same time.

“H-Help…!” Suna croaks out, gasping a couple times and trying to maintain her composure. She’s not doing a good job of it. “H-He n-needs help! I-I found him, a-and he…”

Mitsuharu rushes off into the classroom without waiting for Suna to finish her sentence, seeing as how she had begun tearing up and was having trouble getting her words out. Isogu stayed behind to question Suna, presumably.

There he was, once again. Mitsuharu’s eyes locked onto Ryuuichi, and all that came out of his mouth was a choked gasp before he ran forward to him.

“Ryuu… Brother!!” Mitsuharu yells, gripping onto his shoulders and shaking him. 

Ryuuichi doesn’t respond now, either. Blanc had curled up at Ryuuichi’s side now, something empty and wrong about her gaze as it falls upon Mitsuharu. He would do something about her, but he has to focus on Ryuuichi first. Of course, Mitsuharu wouldn’t know this, but he’s… colder, than when Suna first found him. Paler. The pool of sanguine beneath him had expanded even more. He is still alive, Mitsuharu can tell, that is for sure. But… barely… 

Mitsuharu hisses slightly in frustration, and presses down lengthwise on Ryuuichi’s wound, much harder and effectively than Suna had. Ryuuichi’s body doesn’t react this time. In an almost sort of desperation, Mitsuharu whispers angrily to him, “You better stay with me…! Y-You said… you said you wouldn’t be dying on me too!”

No response, again. The unconscious silence is deafening. Ryuuichi was always impossible to miss due to the fact that he was never silent, he always had something to say. Why didn’t he have anything to say now, Mitsuharu laments as he tries to stop the bleeding even more. Why couldn’t he be acting again? Why couldn’t this be a hallucination? Why? Why? Why?

Isogu’s voice breaks through his thoughts. “Haru, the med droid isn’t fucking here anym-”

...But his voice is cut off too.

“A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather in the classroom!”

...No.

No is the first word that comes to Mitsuharu’s mind as he stares down at Ryuuichi. Ryuuichi’s dead body. His brother’s dead body.

Isogu, somewhere in the back of Mitsuharu’s reddening vision, staggers back alongside Suna, going deathly pale. “R-Ryuu…” he hears him mutter, staring at Ryuuichi as well. Suna had rejoined them, and was looking down at her bloodied hands, unable to stop her tears from falling anymore.

His vision was darkening now, too. Red and black, at first mistaken to be from the bloody scene in front of him, swirling and clouding his mind. His hands are bloody from his brother’s blood, spilled by someone else here… no, his hands weren’t bloody enough. He stares blankly, but his mind is anything but blank as only one thing seems to make sense in the deafening madness that threatened to consume him.

Vengeance.

* * *

Asaka can’t bear to look at the screen, but she can’t bear to look away either. Ryuuichi Hanabi, dead… and Mitsuharu’s actions as the investigation begins... She watched him carefully and concernedly, gripping onto Anna. Mitsuharu had Blanc around his shoulders, yet wasn’t focused on her in the slightest. His gaze was dark as he snapped angrily at every other person investigating with him, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth constantly. He didn’t bother to wipe off the blood that was smeared all over both of his arms and part of his torso, making him a bloody mess throughout this entire investigation. It made Asaka almost sick to her stomach, since she knew that behind that angry exterior, Mitsuharu was in the greatest pain that he had ever felt in his life. She notes with a slight smile, though, that Hanamaru - despite clearly being upset and shaken herself - seems to be doing her best to keep the others together and calm Mitsuharu slightly. Eventually, Asaka can’t take seeing him like that anymore, and does settle on tearing her eyes away from what is happening on the screens of the theater, looking instead towards the man seated next to her.

Yosuke. He had gone pale, putting a hand over his mouth as he stared at the screens, wide-eyed. It seems like he didn’t know how to react aside from shock, or was having trouble registering what he was seeing. All of the other members of the theater had gone silent with shock, save for a horrified mutter of “H-H… Ryuuichi…” initially from Ethan. 

...And with a sudden flash of light, the actor himself appears. Peacefully asleep, as they all had been when they first joined.

Yosuke almost jumps out of his seat in surprise, startling Asaka herself. She didn’t expect that Yosuke would be that caught off guard. The two of them look over at his sleeping form silently together. Hibiki remains in his seat, silently glancing over before shaking his head and looking away with a grimace. Oliver makes like he might move over, but he doesn’t, casting a nervous glance at Yosuke and Asaka. Ethan remains at a distance, crossing his arms and looking between the others with a grim expression, and Suzume averts her eyes and stays silent as always.

Ryuuichi stirs. Asaka can hear the breath catch in Yosuke’s throat. She winces, and after a moment of hesitation, places a hand on Yosuke’s arm. He jumps a little before looking at her, his eye still wide with stunned shock, yet also fear, and a deep sadness.

“...I am sorry…” is all she can think to say at the moment.

Yosuke stares at her, before shakily nodding to her and closing his eye. “I… don’t know what to say to him… I didn’t want to meet him again like… like this…”

Asaka looks back over to Ryuuichi, who is still asleep, yet clearly going to wake up soon. “I feel that you would be best to speak with him, either way…”

“I don’t know…” Yosuke whispers. “He… basically just lost his boyfriend, so seeing me, it, er…”

“...He also just lost his life. Many things will be overwhelming. You are still the closest to him.”

Yosuke opens his mouth to protest, but he doesn’t have time to think… as a small “Mmh?” of confusion makes both of their heads snap back into Ryuuichi’s direction. Ryuuichi’s eyes slowly open, and he looks unfocused. 

His confusion sends an uneasy feeling down Asaka’s spine… and glancing at the screens, she overhears something that Kechibi mentions as he’s wiping away his own tears from where he was investigating the body. The wound on Ryuuichi’s body was too clean, and Ryuuichi otherwise seemed completely untouched. He didn’t fight back, and neither did Blanc, clearly. So, it seemed to be stacking up that… he wasn’t conscious when he was killed. 

He doesn’t know he’s dead yet. 

“Shit.” Yosuke mutters, and takes a deep breath, before walking up to Ryuuichi and slowly entering his line of vision, kneeling in front of his seat.

Ryuuichi blinks a couple of times, focusing on Yosuke. “...Yosuke?”

Yosuke simply silently nods. Asaka notes that Yosuke is trying to keep on a neutral expression, but there’s a slight tremble to his movements, and his face is still really pale.

“What… are you doing here… Am I dreaming?” Ryuuichi puts a hand on his chest, and smirks slightly. “I’ve never been conscious of the fact that I’m dreaming while dreaming before!”

The corners of Yosuke’s mouth twitch down into a sad frown, and he takes a deep breath. “You’re… not dreaming, no.”

“Eh-?”

Asaka lets out a small cough. Ryuuichi looks in her direction, and locks eyes with her for a moment. She notices his face become slightly strained, and he goes slightly pale, but his smile doesn’t fade. He waves. She just averts her eyes from him.

“Ahah, uh, this has to be… a dream.” He looks back at Yosuke, still smiling. He gets up out of his seat and looks around the theater seats behind him, noticing the other dead people watching him silently. Ethan in particular spares Ryuuichi a small wave to him, yet his eyes betray the sadness and hurt he was feeling. “A w-weird one. Haven’t had a dream like this before at all.”

Yosuke shifts around awkwardly for a moment, before slowly lifting his hand and pointing over his shoulder behind him. “Just look.”

Ryuuichi turns to look behind Yosuke… and the first thing that he sees is the screen that has his own dead body on it.

Ryuuichi just stares blankly for a moment. Stares at the movie theater screen, watching from the very mainframe that he had learned so much about and knew that everyone within was dead. Seeing his own dead body, lying there riddled with stab wounds and his own blood nearly flooding the classroom. His brother Mitsuharu, crying his eyes out while angrily stomping around, carrying a listless and bloodied Blanc on his shoulders. His friends, sorrowfully and angrily investigating. And finally, his gaze comes to rest on the camera for the holding cell rooms… where Takeo Odoroki, his boyfriend, sits on his bed in his cell… none the wiser to his significant other’s demise.

...And so, tears well up at the corners of his eyes. He falls to his knees, and then, trembling, he bows his head.

Asaka takes a step towards him, considering going and kneeling next to him, to comfort him somehow. Yosuke doesn’t seem to know what to do, his gaze flickering between Ryuuichi and Asaka. Asaka gives him a reassuring look, and takes another step towards Ryuuichi, but she is stopped when Ryuuichi speaks again.

“N-No...” Ryuuichi’s body trembles more, and his back bends to where his forehead is nearly touching the ground. “No, no, no… no… please, no… n-no…” His voice, it sounds absolutely broken. Helpless, quiet, weak. 

“Ryuuichi…” Asaka mumbles, stepping forward again. Yosuke does likewise, heartbreak clear in his facial expression as he hesitantly reaches in Ryuuichi’s direction, but retracts his hand before he dares touch him. Asaka moves forward and goes to kneel next to him, and sets her hand on his shoulder. 

He pauses for a moment, and Asaka thinks that perhaps she may be able to comfort him, so she opens her mouth to do so… but then a broken sob tears its way out of Ryuuichi’s throat. Another quickly follows, and it is followed by another, and another, tears falling onto the ground of the theater. Ryuuichi starts sobbing really, really heavily, and just falls forward onto the ground, curling into a pathetic ball and covering his head with his arms.

Asaka pulls her hand back from him, and lowers her own head at the sound of his sobs. They were loud, untempered, broken… before, she had heard him sobbing, but at least then he still had some semblance of self control. Here, Ryuuichi just seems… defeated.

Out of the corner of her vision, she spots a black boot stepping forward. She keeps her head down, fighting back tears of her own as she watches. Yosuke kneels down next to Ryuuichi’s shaking form. His face still looks absolutely heartbroken, and he seems to be biting his lip slightly to keep himself in check. But, all the same, he sits himself down on the floor of the theater now, and scoots right next to Ryuuichi.

Ryuuichi doesn’t even notice Yosuke, it seems, the sobbing wracking his entire body. But Yosuke only hesitates for a moment more, before grabbing Ryuuichi by the arm and pulling him towards himself. Ryuuichi doesn’t stop sobbing, but he does stiffen up and glance up slightly as he’s pulled in Yosuke’s direction… and then he’s pulled all the way into him, where Yosuke wraps his arms tightly around him in a hug.

Ryuuichi takes in a deep shuddering breath, looking like he might try and say something, but he can’t bring himself to; instead, he just hugs Yosuke tightly, almost desperately clinging to him and burying his face into Yosuke’s chest. His cries do not quiet, his tears do not cease.

Yosuke gives Asaka a look, one that looks encouraging, perhaps? But she can assume the meaning. She sees the corners of his eye has reddened, tears threatening to fall. So, she silently moves forward to the two of them, and rests her hand on Ryuuichi’s shoulder again, and then lowers her head and puts Anna in her lap so she can put her other hand on Yosuke’s shoulder. The three of them sit there on the floor of the theater, silently listening to Ryuuichi’s cries, absolutely not intending to move any time soon. Ryuuichi doesn’t look like he will be stopping soon, anyway, but Yosuke doesn’t seem to mind with how tightly he’s holding him, and Asaka certainly doesn’t mind at all either, even scooting a bit closer to them after a while of getting used to touching their shoulders. There they stay, silent and still together, as he cries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading~ I love you all please don't kill me


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